DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

March 25, 2026March 25, 2026

The Benefits of Sunlight

It’s springtime, and one of the great things about this season is that it gives us more daylight hours. The benefits of sunlight and its warmth help plants grow, making everything feel new. In Genesis 1:14, we read that God cleared the air to make the lights in the sky visible, so they could separate day from night and serve as signs for seasons, days, and years. Animals rely on the Sun, Moon, and stars to know when to breed and when and how to migrate. Plants need sunlight for photosynthesis, which produces oxygen that humans and animals need.

The benefits of sunlight include both our physical and mental health. Sunlight regulates our circadian rhythm, the biological clock that controls sleep, appetite, and hormone production. Daylight boosts serotonin levels, signaling it’s time to wake up. Spending time outside in the sunlight helps our bodies produce vitamin D, which may help protect against dementia, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic illnesses.

After a long, dark winter, going outside to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air makes us feel refreshed. Even sitting near a window with sunlight streaming in improves our mood. Light therapy is sometimes used to treat depression, especially seasonal depression during the winter months. While we consider the benefits of sunlight, we need to remember that excessive direct exposure to ultraviolet light can lead to skin cancer, cataracts, and macular degeneration.

Genesis 1:15 states that the “lights in the expanse of the sky” were meant to “give light on the earth.” John 1:4-5 tells us Jesus came to bring true light to the world. We could not live without the benefits of sunlight, and I wouldn’t want to live in a world without Jesus, who came to bring us light and life. John also reminds us that Jesus created the light and everything else that exists. (See John 1:1-14.)

March 23, 2026March 22, 2026

Knee Joint Design in Humans

One common criticism used by atheists against the existence of God is the so-called “poor design” of the human body. They criticize many areas, with the knee joint often being a focal point. In reality, a healthy knee joint has an impressive range of motion and can last for decades without significant wear. No human-engineered prosthetic knee can match this longevity. Even with the best available materials, all prosthetic knees tend to show signs of wear after just a few years.

One of the leading critics of the human body’s design is Nathan H. Lents, a scientist, author, and professor affiliated with the City University of New York (CUNY). He is especially critical of the knee joint. As an advocate for human evolution, he claims, “The problem is due to incomplete adaptation.” He states, “The anatomical adaptation to upright walking never quite finished in humans. We have several defects that are the result of the failure to complete the process… The ACL is vulnerable to tearing in humans because our upright bipedal posture forces it to endure much more strain than it is designed to.” It’s interesting that he used the word “designed,” even though he does not believe it was designed. He believes it simply evolved through natural selection acting on random mutations.

The truth is, the human knee functions as what engineers call a floating joint because it has no fixed center of rotation — it is free to rotate and roll. It is stabilized by ligaments, including the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). These ligaments work together with the femur and tibia to form a four-bar linkage mechanism. Professor Lents refers to people tearing the ACLs. However, the ACL is not a bad design. Injuries to it are uncommon in everyday life but are more frequent in high-impact sports such as soccer and ski jumping. Sports like tennis or skating generally do not pose a significant risk to the ACL.

Being overweight is another common factor contributing to knee problems. In the United States, more than two-thirds of adults are overweight, and one in three is obese. Just ten extra pounds of weight can add approximately sixty pounds of force to each knee during running. Obese individuals are twenty times more likely to require a knee replacement than those who are not overweight.

In reality, the knee joint is an ingenious design, as you can see in the illustration. Engineer Stuart Burgess explores this in detail in his excellent book, Ultimate Engineering. Many who view the human body as a product of evolution assume it is poorly designed without understanding the facts. God has created the human body with many remarkable engineering features, including our knee joints. Truly, ultimate engineering requires an Ultimate Engineer.

March 20, 2026March 19, 2026

Access to the Bible

This ministry is dedicated to affirming that science and the Christian faith are allies that support each other. The Christian faith is based on the belief system presented in the Bible, which we believe is the Word of God. One common challenge from skeptics is the lack of access to the Bible for everyone. It is unreasonable to claim that Christianity cannot be true because most people in the world have not had access to the Bible or learn what it teaches.

Certainly, some people have not had access to the Bible, but claiming that the Bible isn’t available to most people worldwide is not accurate. According to the Wycliffe Global Alliance website, at least part of the scriptures has been translated into 4127 languages. The Search Light from Edmond, Oklahoma, reported that the entire Bible has been translated into 776 languages, and the New Testament into an additional 1,798 languages.

The dictionary defines language as “a system of communication used by a particular country or community.” God has provided everyone with the opportunity to know He exists. (See Romans 1:20.) There are forces in the world that deny God’s existence and attempt to block access to the Bible. Additionally, human-made religions are plentiful and often distract people from God’s message. While work remains to be done, the “Good News” is widely available in both written and spoken forms, and online. It is up to Christians to spread that message, and it is up to each individual to decide whether to act on what Jesus has taught us.

References: Wycliffe Global Alliance and The Search Light (PO Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083-0371) (Website: www.searchtv.org).

March 19, 2026March 18, 2026

Impact of Marijuana on Neurological Development

Widespread marijuana use in the Western world has not been around long enough for its effects to be fully understood. Alcohol has been used much longer, and its destructive effects are well-documented. We are concerned about the impact of marijuana on neurological development in youth. Your author lives in a marijuana hub. Currently, in Buchanan and Niles, Michigan, there are 26 marijuana shops of various kinds. We see license plates from Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin belonging to those purchasing marijuana and vape products.

Scientific data on the long-term effects of marijuana are starting to emerge. A recent study tracked the marijuana use of 460,000 young people in California from early adolescence until age 25. It revealed a significant impact of marijuana on neurological development. Thirty-three percent of users developed depression, and twenty-five percent needed treatment for anxiety. Compared to non-users, teens who used marijuana had much higher rates of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Dr. Lynn Silver, a pediatrician at the Public Health Institute, explains that marijuana significantly affects brain receptors, and she hopes their study will encourage kids to think twice before they vape or eat a gummy. She states, “With legalization, we’ve had a tremendous wave of the perception of marijuana as a safe, natural product to treat your stress with. That is simply not true.”

First Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God has His home in you? If anybody desecrates the temple of God, God will bring them to ruin, for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” We see this principle playing out today in the impact of marijuana on neurological development in young people.

References: The Week for March 20, 2026, page 21, cedclinic.com, and healthday.com

March 18, 2026March 17, 2026

Manufacturing Spider Silk

While working to create strong materials, human engineers haven’t come close to matching what spiders can produce. Spider silk is five times stronger than steel by weight. Besides its strength, spider silk is elastic, and because it is organic, it can be disposed of easily without harming the environment. Years of research have brought scientists closer to their goal of manufacturing spider silk.

The secret to spider silk’s strength lies in special proteins called spidroins and how they are spun into fibers. National Geographic magazine explored ways that spidroins might be used, including medical applications. Since spider silk is organic, it can be used for wound dressings, and spidroin nanocapsules could carry molecules that stimulate the immune system into the body and release them gradually. Gels based on spidroins could coat catheters and surgical meshes to reduce infections and blood clots.

Because of its strength, spider silk could be used to produce bulletproof vests and durable fabrics. The challenge is producing spider silk on a commercial scale because spiders that are kept together tend to be cannibalistic. The solution is to genetically modify silkworms to produce spider silk. China has large mulberry plantations where silkworms feed on mulberry leaves and spin cocoons. Using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool, silkworm eggs can be altered to produce much stronger spider silk. Research by a Michigan-based company is nearing the point of manufacturing spider silk, or “supersilk.”

Producing spider silk biologically requires a complex molecular structure and a spider’s intricate spinning process. This exemplifies how the natural world reflects wisdom and intelligence, not an accidental creation. Technicians at Kraig Biocraft Laboratories in Lansing, Michigan, have spent 20 years trying to engineer silkworms to spin spider silk. Human engineers aim to develop new products by copying some of what God has created.

The story of the “Tower of Babel” in Genesis 11:1-14 shows that human pride has a long history, yet many still fail to see evidence for God in His creation (Romans 1:20). Throughout the natural world, God’s intelligence is displayed openly, and spider silk is just one example.

Reference: The March 2026 issue of National Geographic magazine, pages 23-41, and nationalgeographic.com.

March 16, 2026March 15, 2026

Water Is Unlike Any Other Substance

My astronomy students were always amazed to learn the basic physics fact that water exists in 22 different forms throughout the solar system, and that water is unlike any other substance on planet Earth. A simple example of this is to consider why a lake freezes, with ice on top and liquid water underneath. When most substances cool, they become denser, but at 4 degrees Celsius, water starts to violate that rule and becomes less dense.

Every elementary student knows that water can exist as vapor, liquid, or solid (ice). On Earth, water boils at 100 degrees C when the air pressure is 100 kilopascals. (A Pascal is 1 newton per square meter, and there are roughly 4.45 Newtons in a pound). At the same air pressure, water freezes at 0 degrees C. If you drop the air pressure to 100 Pascals, ice turns into water vapor, skipping the liquid phase altogether. One more point of interest to astronomers is that if the pressure is extreme–over 100 gigapascals–water will exist as ice regardless of the temperature.

As space probes visit other planets and their moons, they measure temperatures. Not only do the temperatures tell us about these bodies, but the shapes of ice crystals on them can tell us about the conditions there. Natural water ice crystals on Earth are hexagonal, but since water is unlike any other substance, scientists in the lab have forced ice crystals to take six different shapes. Depending on the temperature and pressure, they can be cubic, tetragonal, orthorhombic, rhombohedral, and monoclinic.

It has been said that the more we know about the creation, the closer we get to the creator. Because water is unlike any other substance, its structure allows a lake to freeze on the surface while life continues under the ice. The presence of water on other planets and their moons throughout the solar system enables the clockwork precision that allows Earth to endure for centuries with great stability. We learn about all of this through the facts of science discovered by human minds. Genesis 1:1 not only tells us that there was a beginning to time, space, and matter/energy, but we now know that the “heavens” includes God’s miracle glue that holds it all together–water.

Reference: March 2026 issue of Scientific American (pages 12-13)

March 13, 2026March 11, 2026

Birding and the Brain

An article in New Scientist suggests that birdwatching may change brain structure and help protect against brain aging. Researchers at Canada’s York University studied 48 people whose hobby was birdwatching. Although they all shared an interest in birding, half were experts, and half were novices. The researchers found an interesting link between birding and the brain.

For the test, the researchers selected 18 bird species that looked somewhat similar. They showed each birder a picture of a bird for less than four seconds. Ten seconds later, they asked them to identify that bird species from four images of similar-looking birds.

Of course, the experts outperformed the novices at identifying the birds. They also showed increased brain activity in three areas. These areas of the brain are involved in object identification, visual processing, and attention/working memory. Birding involves all of those brain functions. The researchers concluded that “building expertise in birding reshapes the brain.” The test group ranged in age from 22 to 79. With age, our brain’s structural complexity and organization tend to decline, and the study showed that the decline was less pronounced in the expert birders.

What can we learn from this research on birding and the brain? It could be that those expert birdwatchers already had structural brain differences before they started birding. However, it supports the idea that maintaining brain activity helps to reduce the effects of aging on the brain. It also suggests that other activities or hobbies that use similar skills might also slow brain aging. The skills required for birding involve attention, memory, and sensory integration. Other activities involving similar skills could have the same positive effect on our brains.

We have often heard it said that if you don’t use it, you will lose it. That is true for physical abilities, and it is also true for brain-related activities. Being physically and mentally active helps to keep us healthy and sharp. I believe this principle can also apply morally. Living a life of good moral behavior and following the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5-7 and elsewhere in the New Testament can make us morally strong and prepared to face the temptations of daily life. Reading and meditating on the Bible, like birding, involves attention, memory, and sensory integration.

Reference: New Scientist magazine, February 2026, and online.

March 12, 2026March 11, 2026

Honeybee Pollination

We recently discussed that honeybees can make on-the-fly decisions individually and that they can also make group decisions by communicating with one another. Another important aspect of these remarkable insects is their role in honeybee pollination.

The flowers of various types of plants produce nectar. What is the purpose of nectar? Nectar is actually made up of two substances that are essential for plants—sugar and water. Flowers that produce nectar do so not for their direct benefit but to attract pollinators. Many plants depend on the wind to carry their pollen from one flower to another. However, this method is not very efficient because it requires a lot of pollen to fill the air, causing problems for allergy sufferers, while only a small amount will reach the intended target. A more efficient way to pollinate flowers is to attract pollinators, such as honeybees, to visit and collect pollen, either intentionally or accidentally.

Honeybees have pollen baskets on their legs to collect pollen for their use. Pollen contains protein, vitamins, minerals, and even fat, which benefits honeybees. But even more important is the nectar that honeybees use to produce honey. They accidentally collect pollen because their fuzzy bodies brush against the flower’s stamens. Honeybees even attract pollen without touching the stamens. The motion of the bees makes them positively charged, while the flowers have a negative charge, and static electricity pulls grains of pollen onto the bees’ fuzzy bodies. Honeybee pollination takes place when the bees visit another flower and deposit pollen on the sticky stamen. Ninety percent of the time, a honeybee will visit the same species of flower, which is helpful because pollen from one species would not aid a flower of a different species.

The bottom line is that 80% of the world’s most important crop plants are pollinated by insects. Two-thirds of North American crops depend on insects for pollination, and honeybees are the most vital pollinators for crops in North America. Honeybees are another part of the beautifully designed system that makes life possible in the world God created.

March 11, 2026March 9, 2026

AI to Study the Dead Sea Scrolls

Beginning in 1946 and 1947, some Bedouin shepherds accidentally (or providentially) discovered what has become known as perhaps the most important collection of ancient documents ever found. Known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, more were discovered in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea until 1956. Researchers are now using AI to study the Dead Sea scrolls.

For Bible scholars, the significance of these documents lies in their confirmation of the accuracy of the transmission of many Old Testament books. Of 15,000 scrolls and fragments dating from the third to the first centuries BC, 40% contain Hebrew scriptures. The most complete Old Testament book is Isaiah, the messianic prophet who predicted much about Jesus Christ seven centuries before His birth.

These scrolls have been studied using paleography (the study of letter shapes), radiocarbon dating, and even DNA analysis of the animal skins on which they’re written. Now, researchers are using AI to study the Dead Sea Scrolls. They named their AI model “Enoch” after the Old Testament figure who didn’t die. (See Genesis 5:21-24 and Hebrews 11:5.)

To train Enoch, researchers used radiocarbon data from other scrolls found in various locations in the Judean Desert. They also instructed the model to analyze the distinctive styles of the characters, cross-referenced with other scrolls. Using this AI method, they examined over 130 scrolls and found that almost all of them were even older than previously estimated.

The bottom line is that these ancient scrolls containing Old Testament texts align closely with the text in our Bibles today. This demonstrates that the Bible has been reliably copied and transmitted over thousands of years. The Bible text today can be trusted to reflect the original writings. Although using AI to study the Dead Sea Scrolls is still in the early stages, it is providing us with a clearer understanding of how and when these documents were produced.

Reference: Biblical Archaeology Review, Spring 2026, page 10, and Wikipedia.org

March 10, 2026March 8, 2026

Waggle Dance Communication

Karl von Frisch, an Austrian scientist working in Germany during the 1940s, analyzed the movement of bees that became known as the ‘waggle dance.” The bees move in a figure-eight pattern, with each waggle occurring at the crossover point. The length of their dance indicates the distance to a nectar source, and the angle of the waggle shows the direction to find it.

A few years later, in 1949, Martin Lindauer discovered another use of the bee waggle dance. When a bee colony outgrows its hive, it must find a new home. The colony sends out scouts to search for potential sites. Choosing a suitable location involves considering various factors. The space must be large enough to support the colony but not so large that the bees cannot survive the cold winter months. Honeybees must keep their bodies above 50 degrees Fahrenheit, or they will die. They survive the cold by huddling in the hive and slowly vibrating their wings in sync. Their wing muscles produce enough heat to keep the hive warm, as long as the hive isn’t too large. They also prefer a hive entrance facing south to let in heat from the Sun and located about 15 feet above ground to keep out intruders.

The task of finding a new hive is given to worker bees that act as scouts. These scouts visit potential sites around the area and then report their findings to the colony using a waggle dance. Hundreds of scouts may go out in different directions, discovering various locations. So, how does the colony choose the best spot for their new home?

When each scout returns, the other scouts interpret the dance by feeling it with their antennae. The length and vigor of a scout’s dance reflect that bee’s opinion of the site’s quality. The dance also indicates the direction and distance to the location, enabling others to investigate. If another scout agrees that it’s a great place, it will return and join in the waggle dance. As more scouts visit and approve of the site, they join in, and consensus is reached. Then the entire colony flies together to the new location.

This is another remarkable way that bees cooperate and communicate to make decisions that benefit the entire colony. Just as bees make independent decisions about which flowers to visit and share that information with others in the colony, they can also reach group decisions through cooperative scouting and information sharing. Once again, we see evidence of design that cannot be explained by mere chance.